July 25th

July 25, 2013

Thunderstorms packing torrential rains may have been a welcome relief from the recent heat wave, but they also wreaked havoc on local roads and highways in the form of flash floods and mud slides.
Inyo County was under a âFlash Flood Watchâ Monday night and all of Tuesday as a monsoonal weather system moved through the region, bringing electrical storms, high winds and heavy downpours â which gave the valley more precipitation than it received all winter.

July 25, 2013

A lightning-sparked wildfire is burning uncontained on the west side of the Sierra this week and causing hazy skies on the east side.
The Aspen Fire, officials said, has grown to 3,000 acres since Sunday and, as of Wednesday afternoon, was 0 percent contained.
According to the U.S. Forest Service, the Sierra National Forest â where the fire is burning â has âreceived significant lightning activityâ since Sunday. âThese downstrikes have resulted in 15 new wildfires, the largest of which â¦ is Aspen Fire located below Stump Springs Road just north of Aspen Creek.â

July 25, 2013

Wind, rain and floods provided an ominous backdrop for a violent robbery in Pearsonville Sunday night.
According to the Inyo County Sheriffâs Office, Johnny Pulido-Gonzalez, 24, of Los Angeles was arrested Tuesday, July 23 in the Kennedy Meadows area for an alleged car-jacking and attempted murder. He later confessed to to being the suspect Sunday nightâs robbery during which he stabbed a convenience store clerk.

July 24th

July 24, 2013

While the mosquito population is currently low during this low-water year, the Owens Valley Mosquito Abatement Program crew is daily treating pastures and lake areas in preparation for the peak August/September mosquito season.
OVMAP Manager Chris Wickham said the crew has been applying larvicides to pasture areas adjacent to Bishop, Big Pine, Lone Pine and Independence as well as in the Owens Lake area near Keeler since March.
âAnywhere we find mosquitoes breeding near human populations is our highest priority,â he said.

July 24, 2013

The Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-Wave Astronomy offers much to boggle the mind. The drive through a landscape, beautiful in its starkness, ends with a display of sky-focused dishes at Cedar Flat, a scene so incongruous itâs reminiscent of âLost.â The dishes themselves are giving scientists a look at the birth of new planets formed from the gas and dust whirling around young stars, the same process that produced Earth.

July 23rd

July 23, 2013

UPDATE: 4:28 p.m. â U.S. 395 has just been closed at Haiwee Reservoir due to flooding and extensive mud and debris, according to Caltrans Public Information Officer Florene Trainor. Whitney Portal Road, meanwhile, remains closed while county road crews attempted to fix extensive damage caused by overnight flooding. The threat of flash floods in Death Valley continues. With rain continuing to fall, Sheriff Bill Lutze said his office was "keeping an eye" on the streams as well as the thunderheads building over Mt. Whitney. S.R.

July 22nd

July 22, 2013

Residents being targeted by the latest phone scam are being given the same advice by local law enforcement: never give personal information to strangers.
Following that simple suggestion could not only save residents the money they stand to lose when the scammers get a hold of your info, but in this case, also maybe the cost of a new computer.

July 22, 2013

While the mosquito population is currently low during this low-water year, the Owens Valley Mosquito Abatement Program crew is daily treating pastures and lake areas in preparation for the peak August/September mosquito season.
OVMAP Manager Chris Wickham said the crew has been applying larvicides to pasture areas adjacent to Bishop, Big Pine, Lone Pine and Independence as well as in the Owens Lake area near Keeler since March.
âAnywhere we find mosquitoes breeding near human populations is our highest priority,â he said.

July 19th

July 19, 2013

Inyo residents have another opportunity to weigh in on the discussion about the mountain yellow-legged frogs and Yosemite toad and how critical habitat endangered/threatened species designations may impact life in the Eastern Sierra.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Thursday that it is reopening the public comment period for its proposal to list the Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frog and the northern population segment of the mountain yellow-legged frog as endangered and the Yosemite toad as threatened under the Endangered Species Act.

July 19, 2013

With Inyo County Consolidated Waste facing a deficit for the coming fiscal year, local leaders are looking at ways to boost revenue and reduce expenses.
One option for maintaining state compliance while getting a clearer picture of the amount of waste going into local dumps, Senior Deputy County Administrator Pam Hennarty said, would be including scales at the Bishop-Sunland Landfill.